English Dub Season Review: Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Season Five

If you can smell what’s cooking in the kitchen, then you’re in luck. Food Wars is back with yet another season full of drama and delicious food. Unfortunately, this also happens to be the final season of the adaptation, so I hope you got the taste for something extraordinary.

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma is based on the manga series written by Yuto Tsukuba and illustrated by Shun Saeki. Yuki Morisaki works as the manga’s contributor, providing the recipes for the series. The fifth season, which is titled Food Wars! The Fifth Plate, once again centers on Soma Yukihira as he continues to become a full-time chef at Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute. This season sees Soma, Erina, and the students competing in the most prestigious cooking competition in the world, BLUE. Soma comes face to face with a new teacher who has mysterious ties to his father during the process.

Unlike the incredible young chefs shown on screen, I am highly inexperienced with this vibrant anime dish. I haven’t read the source material nor watched the previous seasons of the series. So the most significant challenge I have to overcome is going through the motions with a fresh mind. If you want a more experienced in-depth review of the show’s latest season, this isn’t the best place to look. However, if you want a review with a fresh perspective, then you’ve come to the right place.

The best way to describe Food Wars as a whole is that it’s a slice-of-life comedy involving lots of delicious food and people being sexually aroused by the taste and losing their clothes in the process. I’m not joking. The show is pretty explicit with its sexual imagery, even with the censorship on the characters’ privates. Fortunately, I would honestly admit that the food does look immensely delectable.

If the series is like that in the previous seasons, then I can easily assume that there are plenty of moments that’ll leave fans craving for seconds. As for me, a newly inexperienced member of this savory arc, it was an enjoyable treat that serves as a satisfying conclusion to the Food Wars saga. It may not be an excellent place to start this tasty journey, but it may convince some newcomers like myself to revisit the earlier episodes. 

The season’s story arc centers on the characters competing in the BLUE tournament. However, there are plenty of stakes that are more intense than just a regular cooking tournament. The biggest threat comes from the season’s main antagonist, Asahi Saiba, a chef trained by Somo’s father and the leader of the shady cooking organization, NOIR. Asahi can use every tool from every chef he defeats to increase the effectiveness of his cooking, and he’s plotting to make Erina his bride when he wins the competition. Asahi not only proves to be a compelling and formidable foe for Soma, but he also provides some necessary tension for the cooking duels.  

Along with the direction and animation, Asahi makes this season a mouthwatering four-course meal. What kept it from being a perfect meal is how the show balances the visual comedy with the drama. It can be pretty jarring, especially during the first couple of scenes that are supposed to take themselves seriously. But it grew on me after a while, leading to several moments that left me chuckling in disbelief. Aside from that, its combination of engaging storytelling, food critique, and food culture makes it a sublime flavor that’s irresistible.   

My biggest concern during this experience was getting attached to the characters without watching the last few seasons. The last time this happened to me was when I reviewed the second season of Gen:Lock without watching the first season. While it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would go down, it was still pretty challenging for me to accomplish. Luckily, Food Wars managed to make its characters and scenarios easy to digest with the interactions, flashbacks, dialogue, and character growth while making them likable. Although, it does force you to revisit the last few seasons to grow more attached to the characters’ relationships, especially Somo and Erina.

The animation serves as a nice little decoration on top of a famous dish. One that looks as presentable as the food itself. It provides a lot of vibrancy and richness in the environments and characters. More importantly, it delivers plenty of texture and depth into the cuisines shown in the season. It surprisingly makes me want to try out one of their dishes sooner or later.

Overall, Food Wars! The Fifth Plate is a suitable conclusion to the dish that never lost its flavor. Despite its clashing balance between comedy and drama in a couple of episodes, the fifth season is a visual feast fit for the eyes and ears of anime fans. Its engaging character arcs, direction, and animation make this a worthy treat for not just the followers of Food Wars but also a few newcomers who’re hungry for some anime goodness.